As the clocked trickled down in the final seconds of last night's game between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, I could feel the smile growing across my face as I did the goosebumps all over my body. The Rangers clinched their first Atlantic Division title in 18 years.
Within minutes of the Rangers winning the division on the ice of an arch enemy, I started to realize just how big of a deal this is. Ranger fans all across social networks were posting various status updates, tweets and photos in a barrage of excitement I have never seen regarding this team. This night may have been the biggest night for me as a Ranger fan in my life.
You may say to yourself, "the biggest night of your life should be back in June of 1994 when they won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years." Be that as it may, I was only 10 years old and wasn't as rabid a fan as I am today. I also did not realize the ramifications of what a Cup victory had done to a fanbase deprived of a championship for over half of a decade.
Quick side story: I had never watched a full Rangers game prior to them winning the Cup in '94. I had watched bits and pieces, but neither of my parents were hockey fans and I got into the sport on my own. We lived in Connecticut and I did not get MSG in the town that I had lived. On the night of Game 7, New York's FOX 5 said they'd broadcast the final few minutes of the game and dad said he'd let me stay up on a school night (I know...weird I got a local New York channel in CT but not MSG...I tell you it's awful living in that state). We had a horrendous thunderstorm in town that night and just as FOX was about to toss to the game, we lost cable. I had to run to my bedroom to listen to the final call on the radio.
If that had happened to me at this age, I promise you I would suffer from cardiac arrest and die on the spot. I'm convinced there would be no other outcome to that situation.
Since that night, my fandom for this team has steadily grown into a massive love affair. In the past 18 years, the highest rating I could possibly give one single Rangers season would have to be mediocre with the exception of a loss in the conference finals in 1997.
The Rangers had an eight-year, seven-season drought of missing the postseason (every NHL fan lost in the year of the lockout). Since '97, they have only twice reached the conference semifinals. This is why this year's division championship means so much.
Yeah, it's merely a division championship. I've seen more division championships as a Yankee fan than I have follicles of hair on my head. But, it's been nearly two decades since the previous one for the Blueshirts. This is the most we've had to celebrate this team this century and I'm going to milk every last drop of it.
Should the Rangers not bring the Stanley Cup back to the Canyon of Heroes on a June morning this year, we cannot consider this season a loss. While we all should be very optimistic of how far the Rangers can go in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we should also embrace what we've had to enjoy this season. This team gives an all-out effort every night they take the ice. This has by far been the best season this team has brought us in a long, long time.
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